


serial miscommunication

by seasparks



Category: Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, everything we touch turns into hurt/comfort, real projection hours
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24248404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasparks/pseuds/seasparks
Summary: Maria asks Tsubasa to pick up some cereal from the store. Much to Chris's chagrin, Tsubasa hears a slightly different request.
Relationships: Kazanari Tsubasa/Yukine Chris, Maria Cadenzavna Eve/Kazanari Tsubasa, Maria Cadenzavna Eve/Kazanari Tsubasa/Yukine Chris, Maria Cadenzavna Eve/Yukine Chris
Comments: 7
Kudos: 33





	serial miscommunication

**Author's Note:**

> we put crispix on our household's shopping list and this fic idea came to us in a fever dream. we apologize for neither the goofy beginning nor the incongruous angst.

"Need anything from the store?" Tsubasa looked back at Maria from the hall outside the apartment they shared with Chris. The three of them had settled into a routine since they all moved in together at the commander's suggestion: Maria does household chores, Tsubasa runs errands, and Chris helps out with both of them sometimes. Today was Chris and Tsubasa's day to go shopping..

Crunching sounds emanated from Maria's mouth as she chewed her cereal and pondered the question. She still wasn't quite awake yet, and the others had forbidden her from adding coffee to her cereal to hasten her wakening after The Incident. "Hey, hurry up, we haven't got all day!" came a shout from down the hall. As a sword, Tsubasa had all the patience in the world for Maria's response, but as a small bundle of curves and maladaptations, Chris was always the one to demand action. It was hardly fair of her to be so impatient yet so intolerant of the brilliant Cerealatté, Maria thought.

Tsubasa shrugged. "Text me if you think of anything," she said.

Just before Tsubasa closed the door, Maria had a revelation. "Wait!" she shouted the best she could through a mouthful of cereal. Tsubasa peered through the crack in the door. "We need Crispix," Maria added, then returned to her state of half-consciousness.

With a puzzled look, Tsubasa closed and locked the door, then shook her head. A sword carries out orders without question. Maria's request for Chris pics would be honored.

* * *

"Senpaiiiiii, where are we goingggggggg," whined Chris, her arms loaded down with two bags full of miscellaneous groceries. A household of three extremely active, athletic women requires a substantial amount of food to keep everyone healthy.

In front of her, Tsubasa kept walking, two bags hanging off each arm and one more on each shoulder. "Park," she said.

Chris considered yelling at her companion about needless detours, but opted to remain silent. Instead, she watched the muscles in Tsubasa's back and legs flex as they allowed her to gracefully carry over three times as much as Chris's load. At least there was _some_ upside to the hot weather and extra walking. The way the sweat made Tsubasa's skin exposed by her tank top and shorts shine made Chris want to just—

"Here." Tsubasa stopped abruptly, almost causing Chris to run into her, and motioned to a bench. She started putting her grocery bags down on it, so Chris did the same, though it didn't leave enough room for her to sit down. Tsubasa pulled out her phone and pointed at a nearby tree that was covered in pink blossoms. "Go stand over there."

Chris rolled her eyes. "Yes, mistress," she scoffed as she stomped over to the indicated area. At least there was some shade. She turned around to face Tsubasa and added, voice dripping with false sweetness, "Shall I strip for you, too, _mistress_?"

Tsubasa must have been more winded from the walk than Chris thought; her face was bright red from the exertion. "No, that will be unnecessary," she said after a brief silence. "Maria asked for some pictures of you while we're out today, and I do not think she would want us to break public indecency laws."

"Ha, okay," Chris said with a smirk, " _Maria_ wanted pictures of me. This totally isn't just an excuse to get a new lock screen for your phone. Suuuuure." Internally, she was _very_ glad that her own exhaustion was masking how much she was probably blushing. Surely Maria—beautiful, successful, dazzling Maria—couldn't possibly want pictures of someone as bland and...and _rotund_ as Chris. Let alone lithe, graceful Tsubasa, whose glare could pin Chris almost as effectively as one of her perfect, toned arms, and whose thighs could probably...well, could probably do a lot of things that Chris was far too nervous to imagine.

Usually.

Sometimes.

Well, right now, at least.

Mostly.

"You were already down the hall, so you probably couldn't hear her." Tsubasa's voice snapped Chris out of her flustered reverie. "The lighting here is perfect, and the tree complements your natural beauty, so I will just take a few shots and then we can head home."

At hearing Tsubasa call her beautiful, the last semblance of conscious thought left Chris's mind. The photoshoot and the rest of the trip home were a blissful, silent blur.

* * *

The next morning, Tsubasa woke to someone banging on the door to her room. Her mind rushed through the possibilities: was there a Noise attack? Some new heretical technology putting the city—or even the world—in danger? Did Doctor Ver's phantom manifest and visit to borrow a cup of sugar and gloat about the hero-tier brownies he was going to bake in the afterlife? With each possibility more dire than the last, Tsubasa wasted no time opening the door to find—

A very sleepy, disheveled Maria looking at her with an empty bowl in hand. "Cr...crisp'x..." she mumbled. Tsubasa tilted her head, so Maria repeated herself as clearly as she could manage. "Crispix." To emphasize her need, she pointed at the bowl with her free hand.

In an instant, Tsubasa understood exactly what was going on. She had been on Tumblr before. She knew what this meant. When receiving art of a favorite character or pairing, people would say "thank you for the food"; Maria must be asking for delivery of the "food" she requested yesterday. A sword may be made for one fighting style, but if it cannot be adapted to others it is no more than a sharp stick.

Tsubasa nodded sagely and pulled out her phone to show Maria the pictures she had taken. "Here you are, Maria. Pictures of Chris. I took seventeen of them in total, and Tachibana is going to show me how to send them to you later today."

Maria stood in silence. After a long moment, she turned around and walked away. Tsubasa could hear the sound of rummaging in the kitchen, then heavy footsteps as Maria returned bearing a blue cereal box. She pointed at the name printed on it, and read out loud, "Crispix." In case Tsubasa didn't get the message, Maria said again, more loudly, "Crispix!!" and started to turn around before thinking of something. She grabbed the phone out of Tsubasa's hand, quickly emailed the pictures to herself, then stormed off to try and figure out her breakfast. First she was deprived of her Cerealattés, now she couldn't even have her normal cereal until the next grocery run...life just wasn't fair to Maria.

Dumbstruck, Tsubasa stood in place as she processed what just happened and came to terms with her mistake.

* * *

Chris was sprawled out on the couch playing her new obsession—a video game version of chess where the pieces were girls who could also kiss each other—when she heard someone clear her throat next to her. "Yeah, what? It's my turn to use the TV, so buzz off," she said as she tried to get the red and green queens to admit their feelings for each other.

"Can we talk? I made a mistake earlier," said Tsubasa, sitting down on the opposite end of the couch from Chris.

"What, you're regretting not asking me to take my clothes off at our photoshoot? We can fix that right now, you know~" Chris teased, more out of reflex than anything else.

Tsubasa looked away from Chris. "No, not that," she said, her voice quiet. "I thought Maria wanted pictures of you, but I misheard her. She actually just wanted cereal. I'm sorry for making you go out of your way like that."

"Oh." Chris's voice had never felt so small.

"I can get groceries on my own next ti—"

"I get it," Chris snapped, "you don't want me around. You never wanted me around. Okay. I get it. I should have known better. How _stupid_ of me to think that someone could actually _want_ me, that you could actually think that I'm—" She caught herself before she could complete her thought; she already felt far too vulnerable.

Tsubasa's eyes widened in shock. "Chris, I don't understand, where are you—"

"It's _fine_!" shouted Chris, loudly enough for Tsubasa to be able to tell that it was not, in fact, fine. She stood up and stomped toward her room. "I'll leave you alone now, so just—"

"No." Tsubasa dashed over to intercept Chris and placed a hand on Chris's shoulder. It was her turn to interrupt. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't understand what's going on. Please, just tell me."

Chris froze. She didn't actually want to be alone like this, but she also couldn't fathom opening up to Tsubasa about...anything, really. Or to anyone else, for that matter. So she froze in place, unable to choose between two equally dire options, until she finally managed to force out some words. "I'm...nothing..." she whispered.

Tsubasa rested her free hand on Chris's other shoulder. "Do you want to sit down again?" she asked softly. Chris nodded, so Tsubasa gently guided her back over to the couch, where they sat down next to each other. Tsubasa pulled her hands back to give Chris some space, but Chris grabbed one of the retreating hands with a whispered "please" and clung to it for dear life. They sat together like that in silence until Chris was ready to speak again.

"Compared to you two, I'm...I've got nothing going for me," Chris said. The words came out in rough patches, with frequent pauses for Chris to try and figure out what she needed to say. "You're beautiful, and talented, and you've got each other, and I'm just ugly and talentless and in the way. I had it under control, but then I thought Maria actually _wanted_ something of me for once, and I got my hopes up, and then...yeah." She punctuated the thought with a shrug. "You know."

Instead of responding, Tsubasa pulled Chris into a hug, then took out her phone and handed it to Chris. Chris stared at it, puzzled, until the lock screen lit up, revealing a candid picture of Chris from yesterday's photoshoot. In it, she was looking at a flower petal she had just pulled from her hair with a look on her face that wasn't quite a smile, but was still much softer than the perpetual scowl she wore out in public (and in private most of the time, too). "Maria has it as hers, too," Tsubasa explained. "You're beautiful in it. You're always beautiful to us, Chris."

Chris stiffened. "Don't. Don't say that unless you mean it," she gasped, fighting back a sudden bout of tears.

"You're beautiful," Tsubasa repeated, gently squeezing Chris's hand. "I mean it. Maria means it. Our lives wouldn't be complete without you. I'm sorry I haven't made this more obvious."

Chris snuggled close to Tsubasa. Tears were streaming down her face, but she was still determined not to start sobbing in front of Tsubasa. One step at a time. "Can...can we talk about this more tomorrow? I'm getting...kind of sleepy..." Within moments, she was asleep in Tsubasa's arms.

* * *

Too few hours later, Tsubasa woke up on the couch to sunlight streaming in through the windows and the smell of cooking. "No cereal today?" she wondered out loud.

"Nope," answered Chris from the kitchen, "I think it's done enough harm for now, don't you?" She walked over to Tsubasa and handed her a plate piled high with pancakes, eggs, bacon, hash browns, and a muffin. "I made, um, a bit of everything, instead. I hope that's okay..." She looked down at the floor as she trailed off, her cheeks turning pink.

Tsubasa took the plate, then gave Chris's forehead a small kiss. "It's perfect. This looks delicious, thank you."

"C-can we still...talk about things more, later...?" Chris asked, suddenly on edge again.

"Of course. As long as you still want to."

"Yeah. I...I think I do." Chris grinned. "Anyway, dig in! It's like a super grand slam breakfast platter with all my favorite brunch foods. I call it...Chris's Picks." She preemptively dodged the pillow she knew Tsubasa was going to launch at her, cackling gleefully. As long as she and Tsubasa could still do things like this, she knew everything would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> in the undergrad student org we were in someone had bought a box of off-brand crispix called Crispy Hexagons like a decade ago and every year it was auctioned off to the highest bidder


End file.
